The trip, proposed by Sanford as a way to promote health in the state, starts May 1 in Spartanburg County and ends May 16 at Wannamaker Park in North Charleston. The governor will make the 150-mile trip in three segments over three weekends.

Sanford announced the trip during his 2004 State of the State address as a way of encouraging South Carolinians to make more healthy decisions in their day-to-day lives.

"This bike ride is all about challenging folks to be just a little bit more active every day, something we think will have a profound impact on how we look and feel as individual South Carolinians," Sanford said.

As for the governor's training regimen for the ride, his spokesman Will Folks said Sanford already runs daily and rides his bike a couple of times a week. When it comes to those much-needed carbs, it seems the governor is not picky. Folks said the governor eats pretty much anything put in front of him.

"I've seen him put down 15 candy canes because that's all that was in the car with him at the time," Folks said. "If you don't finish what you're eating, he is usually more than happy to finish it for you. We are checking to see if he has a tapeworm."

DRAW!

The most powerful man in the S.C. Senate has introduced a bill that, if successful, would exempt the state's 40,000 registered concealed weapons carriers from Freedom of Information requests.

The bill, introduced by Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, would allow people who have applied for or been granted a concealed weapons permit to remain private in the face of public interest.

The Freedom of Information Act, established in 1967, allows members of the public to acquire records deemed public information. It is a tool often used by members of the media in their role as government watchdog.

The senator introduced the legislation at the request of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which said it has received complaints from CWP holders about a proliferation of junk mail.

"I'm told that these people are being pestered by advertisements and the such," McConnell said. "We passed the Family Privacy Act last year, which was supposed to protect permit holders from commercial groups using this type of information, but evidently it's not working for these people."

McConnell also said there is a fear that the detailed information provided for CWPs could be used in identity theft cases.

"Those permits are very detailed. They even have a person's fingerprints," he said.

Critics of the measure say there is no reason CWP holders should be given a blanket of secrecy when similar state-issued permits are open to public scrutiny.

"Any time the state grants a permit, it should be an open process," said Jay Bender, attorney for the South Carolina Press Association. "The only way to ensure that everything is above board is to make everything public."

The bill is in the Senate Judiciary Committee but has not yet been scheduled for debate. McConnell chairs the committee, so it is likely the proposal will be given a fair amount of consideration.

The state began issuing CWPs in 1996 after passage of South Carolina's Right to Carry legislation. Exempting CWP holders from public scrutiny was an argument early on, but legislators ultimately decided against the measure.

JGAIII (CLOSET DEMOCRAT?)

A strange thing happened in the S.C. House of Representatives last week. During a debate on a bill to legalize tattooing in South Carolina, John Graham Altman III, R-Charleston, began espousing a philosophy more in line with his more ... ahem, liberal, counterparts.

The House passed the bill Thursday. On Wednesday, before the body approved the bill in second reading, Altman took to the floor and argued against the measure. Altman did not agree with the argument of tattoo bill supporters who said the issue was one of "choice."

Said Altman, "Do you realize that government is all about limiting choices?"

After which Rep. B.R. Skelton, R-Six Mile, stood up and said to Altman, "It seems to me that you are in favor of limiting choice only on matters that you disagree with."

Altman later said his stance was not a liberal one.

"I was making a philosophical argument," he said.

FEELING VINDICATED

On March 18, the same day the House passed his income tax reduction plan, the governor held a news conference accusing the General Assembly of "trampling" on taxpayers by overriding his veto of the Life Sciences Act.

Many, if not most, legislators did not appreciate the governor's words and spent most of last week stewing over the matter.

Not everyone was mad. Sen. John Kuhn, R-Charleston, was feeling vindicated. Last year, Kuhn took a lot of heat for filibustering the Life Sciences Act for many of the same reasons the governor vetoed the measure. He also was one of only four senators to vote to sustain the governor's veto, along with fellow Lowcountry Sen. Bill Branton, R-Summerville.

The only question is whether this will be enough to make up for his initial opposition to Sanford's government restructuring plan. Kuhn was one of several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to tear into the plan. He later changed his tune but not before the governor made it known that he was unhappy with the senator.

Remember, loving someone means never having to say you're sorry.

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